“Where does he get those wonderful toys?”

The Analog Kid has some new gear, thanks to the incredible generosity (and technical geek-osity) of my good friend John. Take a look!

Bellari VP53o preamp!

Pro-Ject Debut Carbon turntable!

No more vinyl rips from my old Ion USB turntable– I’ll be ripping my 5000 LPs in style from this point forward! I have also updated my Audacity software, and so far the results have been tremendous (after a little trial and error, of course). The first song I ripped was “Vacation” from the Go-Go’s, and I have to say that my vinyl rip crushes my 320 kbps copy of the CD version like a grape. My second rip was the 1981 hit “Young Turks” from Rod Stewart– I chose this song because my current digital copy was a crappy 128 kbps mp3 that I acquired on Napster (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) many, MANY years ago. That old version sounds like it was recorded off of a transistor radio with a 1976 Realistic tape recorder, while the new one sounds like Rod is in my living room. By the way, has anyone ever noticed how much Bruce ripped off “Young Turks” for “Dancing In The Dark?” Just an observation…

I am no longer in the minor leagues, my friends. It’s time to get the fungus off of my shower shoes because I am going to the show! I’m just happy to be here, and I hope I can help the ball club.

Rod Stewart: “Young Turks” (Stewart/Appice/Hitchings/Savigar)

From the album Tonight I’m Yours

Warner Brothers Records, 1981

Vinyl rip courtesy of the Analog Kid

Young Turks

Sounds pretty damn good if I do say so myself…

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Bonus Tracks!

The first rule of The Analog Kid blog is that if you write about a song on the Analog Kid blog, you share the song on the Analog Kid blog.

The Go-Go’s: “Vacation” (Valentine/Caffey/Wiedlin)

From the album Vacation

I.R.S. Records, 1982

Vinyl rip courtesy of the Analog Kid

Vacation

Bruce Springsteen: “Dancing In The Dark” (Springsteen)

From the album Born In The U.S.A.

Columbia Records, 1984

Dancing In The Dark